Cork were crowned All-Ireland U20 Hurling Champions on Sunday as they beat Offaly in Semple Stadium 2-22 to 3-13. The win marked Cork's third U20 All-Ireland title in just four years, in what is an utterly dominant time for the Cork youngsters.
However, despite their successes, the manner of their victory has been a big talking point after the game, with one particular incident again sparking a heated debate over the refereeing of head collisions.
Offaly lost their star forward Cormac Egan at halftime after he was the victim of an apparent elbow to the head from Cork's Shane Kingston. After consulting with his umpires, referee Chris Mooney determined it to be worth a penalty and a yellow card. Many watching online saw it as a straight red card.
Red card?
pic.twitter.com/ksV1jnLPwV— OurGame.ie (@OurGameHQ) June 4, 2023
Off the back of comments from Offaly manager Leo O'Connor calling Cork's play 'absolutely cynical', plenty of other commentators have been weighing in. In his weekly Examiner column yesterday, former intercounty referee (and proud Offaly man) Brian Gavin was highly critical of Cork's play. He called the Egan incident a 'blatant red'.
Egan was unable to see out the game as a result. He paid the price for what was done to him and Kingston didn’t. As we have seen in the senior championship, referees have let themselves down in not just taking the duty of care for the player into consideration. For an underage team, Cork were pretty cynical.
(For what it's worth Gavin says he believes Cork would have won the match anyway)
Former Laois hurler and intercounty manager Niall Rigney was one of many GAA commentators online to take issue with the decision.
Referees HAVE a duty of care with this Reckless, Dangerous Tackle, Simply Not Good Enough,Same injured player Concussed,Cork player Remains onfield. Referee completely bottled it.https://t.co/NvbCceievL
— niall rigney (@laoishurler) June 4, 2023
Reckless shoulder to the head. Cormac Egan replaced at ht, probably concussed.
This is a red in rugby but not in hurling, it seems. Numerous similar hits have gone unpunished this year.
GAA has a duty of care to protect players from these serious head injuries @TheSundayGame https://t.co/BaSJhFbgyF— Colm Coughlan (@colmc_physio) June 4, 2023
Despite fans anger, The Sunday Game panel were happy that Cork's play was not cynical.
"They're finding big, they're finding strong and they're finding angry"
Brendan Cummins on the ingredients behind the Cork hurlers' recent run of success at Under-20 level #rtegaa #SundayGame
📺 Watch live - https://t.co/AKAre5Gf3l pic.twitter.com/bIE7wgOePm— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 4, 2023
These comments come off the back of an already intense debate on using red cards to cut out high tackles.
Incidents involving Cillian Kelly of Offaly, Darragh Fitzgibbon of Cork and Stephen Bennett of Waterford have made many wonder if hurling is doing enough to prevent head injuries.
With Sunday's incident sparking yet another debate on referee inaction when it comes to head collisions in hurling, one can only wonder if it will be in the back of intercounty referees' minds as the hurling Championship really heats up again this weekend.
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